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Vilsack won’t pursue second beef checkoff

cattle grazing-central Nebraska 9-14Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he is scrapping his proposal to create a second beef checkoff.

Vilsack announced the plan in November, but a policy rider in the spending bill recently passed by Congress prevents him from proceeding with the rule.

Several state cattle groups welcomed the withdrawal. The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association(ICA) says a second checkoff would have created “inefficiencies and confusion”.  ICA had expressed concern that Vilsack’s proposal would remove producers from the process of deciding how checkoff dollars should be spent.

Mike Deering, executive vice president of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, while welcoming the news, questions why the idea was ever put forward. In Deering’s words, “The idea was a bad one and never should have been presented in the first place.”

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